Because of You
by Gee-Blossom13
Summary: Shelby's life rapidly starts to change after writing a message to her favorite celebrity.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I clicked send.

I can't believe I actually did it.

I've always wanted to do it, I just never had the courage. But as I clicked "sent" on my twitter account's direct messages, there was proof that I actually send that message to Justin Bieber.

"He probably won't even see it." I said to myself.

I didn't wanna get too anxious for his reply, so I got up and took a shower to waste some time.

Later on, right when I was about to check my computer for a message, I stopped myself. I just didn't want to disappoint myself if he didn't answer.

He gets thousands of direct messages every five minutes. Why would he reply to _me?_

Just as I was thinking about him, I heard my computer make a beeping noise.

I walked over to it and saw that I had a new direct message.

"C'mon Shelby, it's not Justin…" I said to myself as I approached my computer.

But when I clicked on my inbox, my heart almost stopped beating.

_New Message from Justin Bieber_, my screen said.

My heart began beating so fast and loud that it could have woken up my entire neighborhood.

I hesitated for a moment before opening the message, but did a happy dance when I read his response to my question.

_Hey Shelby. I'd actually love to spend time with a fan of mine this summer. I think it'd be fun. Lets keep in touch though, because I need to talk about this with my manager. – Justin_

I twirled around my room in absolute joy until I passed out from being dizzy.

What if he said yes? What if I was going to spend my summer with _Justin Bieber? _

Even though it wasn't set in stone, I felt like my summer was finally gonna be great for once.

_**Next Day**_

As I walked home from my bus stop, I couldn't stop thinking about checking my messages to see if Justin said anything else.

Maybe his manager said yes…

A moving truck in the driveway to houses down from mine caught my eye. Someone was actually moving in.

That house has been empty for as long as I can remember.

I wonder who it is?

As I made my way closer to my house, I saw a girl that looked about my age walking down the front walk.

I waited until she was in hearing distance before shouting "Hey!"

She snapped her head my way, frightened at first. But then she saw me and smiled. Then she waved.

I walked over to her looked at her.

She looked about 15, like me. She had a unique look, with long, wavy black hair that reached almost to her waist, a scarf, even though it was 80 degrees, vintage shorts, tights and cool ankle boots.

"Hi," She said. "I'm Sheridan."

I smiled at her. "Hi Sheridan. Aren't you hot in that?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, just a little. I'm not used to this type of hot weather."

She looked up at the sky and shielded her eyes with her hand. "What's your name?" She asked me.

"I'm Shelby. Where are you from?"

She looked back at me. "California."

I raised my eyebrows. "Wow, really? That far away."

She looked sad for a minute, and then said, "Yeah. Really far."

There was a silence. Then she asked, "How old are you Shelby?"

"I'm fifteen. You?"

"Me too." She said, smiling.

She looked relieved.

From then on, we really hit it off. We actually had lots of things in common, except that I have brothers, and she's an only child.

As the day went on, I began to feel more comfortable telling her things.

"Hey…I know this might sound stupid…but I sent a message to Justin Bieber on Twitter last night." I said, looking everywhere but at her.

She looked intrigued. "Really? What did you say?"

"I asked him if I could hang out with him this summer. And…"

She waited. "And?"

I sighed and then said, "He replied to me saying that he thinks it'll be fun!"

Her eyes popped open, and she started squealing. "Are you serious?! That's awesome! Congrats!"

I squealed with her, feeling the relief of getting it off my chest.

"I'm just glad I actually have someone to tell. You know…I could ask him if you can come too…that it, if Justin gets permission."

Sheridan looked surprised. "Really? You…you want me to come?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. You've been more of a friend to me in the past two hours than anyone has been to me in the last eleven years!"

She hesitated, but said, "Well, only if you want me to come. I'm not going to force you to bring me."

Just then, my computer beeped, and I ran to check my twitter.

Justin messaged me again!

"Sheridan, look!" I pointed to the message and read it aloud.

_Hey Shelby! I sat down and talked to my crew about it last night, and then think it's not a bad idea. They said they think it'd it be a great way to just be around normal kids my age for a while. But my manager needs to talk to your parents first._

So I gave him my personal contact info, and then I asked him if I could bring an important friend.

After that, we started planning our biggest summer ever.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I immediately checked my computer for a new message from Justin.

This time I wasn't surprised when I saw that Justin had messaged me, because I was actually used to it, believe it or not.

_Hey. Bringing a friend won't be a problem, cause we have plenty of room. I'm gonna be in California for most of the summer, so it'll be great. Just give me your friend's name and stuff and I can contact her too. Then we can set dates and stuff. Can't wait to see you guys! – Justin_

I just smiled to myself while I texted Sheridan to give me her info. We continued talking about this whole thing even after Sheridan went home last night. Her mom talked to my mom, and now it feels like they've lived here for years.

I got ready for my third to last day of school, throwing on random clothes and throwing my hair up in a messy bun.

I was too excited to eat any heavy food, so I grabbed a bagel n my way out the door and got on my bus.

**Later that Day**

When I got off the school bus, I walked straight passed my house and knocked on Sheridan's door. She answered after I rang the bell for the third time.

"Hey girl!" She said as I walked inside her house. It was still mostly empty space, considering she moved in two days ago.

"How was school?" She asked, handing me a can of soda.

I shrugged. "It was okay. I'm just glad it's gonna be over soon."

There was a silence, and then I said, "So did Justin call your mom yet?"

Sheridan took a sip of her Mountain Dew and smiled. "Yup. Everything's all set. How about you?"

I gave her a "_duh"_ look, and smiled. "Of course!"

We both laughed, and then I said, "I just can't wait. Can you believe we'll be on our way to the best summer ever in just a few days?"

She shook her head and looked into the distance. "No, I can't. This is going to be so much fun. Don't you think? And I get to visit home, only right after I've left. It's so perfect."

She looked like she was reminiscing, so I gave her some space.

Justin, Sheridan and I all exchanged numbers yesterday. Justin sent me a text, bringing Sheridan back to reality.

"Is that Justin?" She asked, looking eager.

"Yeah, it is." I read the message out loud.

_Hey Shelby. I'm just so excited for this weekend, aren't you?_

"Tell him yeah you are!" She half-screamed.

So I did, and then he replied in a matter of seconds.

_How's Sheridan? Is she hype?_

Sheridan took my phone and replied for herself. I just couldn't get over how amazing this was going to be.

I was also super surprised when my mom agreed to let me go too. I could have sworn all of my hopes and dreams would have been crushed, but she totally surprised me with this one.

And the fact that I actually had someone to have a great time with only added to the fun of it all.

"You okay?"

I looked back at Sheridan and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." Because I was, for once.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I woke up on the last day of school, my heart was beating a mile a minute.

It was almost time!

I quickly texted Sheridan to get her excited, and then I actually put on a really awesome outfit for the last day.

It was time to say goodbye to this would-have-been boring summer, and hello to the greatest time of my life.

All I had to do was get through one last day of school, and I'd be totally fine.

**Later, At School**

I couldn't stop smiling the whole day.

As usual, the same, annoyingly fake girls I saw everyday for my whole life faked their goodbyes to be, knowing that I could die tomorrow and no one would care.

I waved to a couple of them, and blew off the rest.

"Jerks," I muttered under my breath.

I couldn't wait to get away from these people after highschool was over. But then I thought about Sheridan, and how she'd be going to school with me next year.

And that made my day even better than it was when I woke up this morning.

I sat through the day, getting things like my last report card, and watching people making a big scene out of this school year ending, even though we'd all see each other again this fall.

I watched as everyone frantically signed yearbooks with multicolored pens, and girls taking millions of pictures with their friends. Something I'd never really been a part of.

The last day of school has never affected me much, because I never miss it.

But at least I can look forward to a better year next year. I know we'll have loads of fun and good times.

So I half-listened as all of my teachers gave their goodbye speeches, and tuned out some crying girls.

All I could think about was this Sunday. Sheridan and I were leaving for California then, and I was super excited. We still haven't figured out what to pack, and now that I think about it, I needed to go shopping for some new clothes.

I barely even noticed as time went by.

I ended up tuning back in to real life when I was on the bus home. Apparently school had ended, and it was now officially summer.

My heart skittered and fluttered as I approached my neighborhood, and the bus stopped at my stop. I heaved my stuff off of my seat and walked off the bus, saying my last thank you of the year to the driver, as I tried my best not to trip and fall flat on my face.

As I walked over to the sidewalk, the sun shined in my path, letting me know that this summer was going to be the best to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_**Shelby's POV:**_

When I got off the bus and started walking home, I saw Sheridan burst out of her house and start running toward me.

"Hey, you need help carrying that stuff?" She asked, taking my binder.

"Yeah, thanks." I said.

Today was the last day of school, so I had quite a lot of junk.

"So, what time do you think we should leave for the mall?" She asked me.

I thought about it for a minute. "Uh, we can go as soon as I get this stuff inside, and then I have to change my clothes."

She nodded as we made our way up my porch steps.

When we got upstairs to my room, I dropped everything and flew onto my bed.

"Oh my gosh! That stuff was so heavy!" I shouted.

Sheridan laughed and put my binder on my desk. I started to get curious.

"Hey, did you finish school before you moved here?" I asked.

"Yeah, we ended school two weeks ago."

"Wow. Lucky." I said.

She smiled and sat down next to me.

"Oh yeah! Let me find something to wear." I said as I got up and walked to my closet.

I made my decision, and headed into the bathroom to change.

When I finished changing, I walked back out to meet Sheridan.

"Okay, I'm ready to go." I told her.

We walked out of my room and headed outside. Her mom was taking us.

When her mom pulled up, Sheridan opened the door for me and told me to get in.

"Thanks." I said. She nodded. Her mom turned around and smiled at me.

"Hey, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm doing great, thanks."

"That's good."

Sheridan sighed and looked out the window. Her mom just smiled and started driving.

"So what are you going to be looking for when we get there?" I asked her.

She started to think. "Um, nothing too dressy or anything. Probably just some jeans and a dressy tank top. What about you?"

"Well, I don't really know. I was hoping you would help me." I said.

She smiled. "Sure, I'll help you. How are you planning to do your hair?" she asked.

I reached up and ran my fingers through my hair. "I was thinking about curling it. What are you doing with yours?"

"I'm getting it cut into a different style tonight." She said.

"Oh really? What style are you going for?" I asked.

"I really want to get swoopy bangs and cross my entire forehead."

I nodded. "Sounds really cool."

We were silent for the rest of the ride. When we got there, we jumped out of the car and raced into the mall. We had a lot of work to do.

We ran into Aercrombie & Fitch and flew threw the racks to see if they had anything interesting. We saw nothing.

Then we zoomed into Hollister and started looking around. They had some things, but nothing that said 'We're here to flirt'. We burst out laughing and then ran into PacSun.

That's where Sheridan bought like, ten bags of clothes from. She still wasn't finished yet,

"Ugh, now I need to catch up!" I said. I sped up and started prowling through the stores to find something. When we hit American Eagle, lets just say I trashed the store. I grabbed a bunch of things and kept on going. I finally purchased them, and caught up with Sheridan.

"Wow, nice shopping!" She said.

I lifted my chin up with pride. "Thank you."

"Now c'mon! We have more shopping to do!" I said.

And we ran off.

*Later*

"Whew! That was a workout!" Sheridan said, as her mom pulled up to the curb to pick us up.

When her mother opened the door, she gasped.

"Wow! You two bought the entire mall!"

Sheridan laughed and so did I.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy!" I said.

When we pulled up to Sheridan's driveway, we jumped out and got our bags out of the trunk. Then we raced upstairs and started to try everything on.

"This is so exciting! Tomorrow, we're off to meet Justin Bieber!" I said.

"Yeah!" then I remembered to check my phone.

I had 20 messages and 5 missed calls, all from Justin!

I called him back.

"Hello?!" He shouted.

"Hey, you called?" I asked.

"Yeah, like 20 times!" He shouted again.

I sighed. "Don't worry Justin. Me and Sheridan just went shopping to get ready."

"Oh, alright. How did it go? You guys getting pretty for me?" he was being such a flirt.

I smiled. "Oh yeah, we are!"

He laughed. "Do you mind if I speak to Sheridan? I haven't talked to her yet."

"Okay. Sheridan! Justin wants to talk to you!"

Sheridan walked out of the bathroom and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" She said.

I decided to let them talk and go try on more of my clothes.

I really liked what I bought. Sheridan was right, I did do well with my shopping!

Sheridan walked up to me and gave me my phone. "He's really sweet!"

I nodded. "Yeah, he is! I'm so overwhelmed by all of this! You just don't know how his talking to me has affected me!"

She sat down on her bed and looked at me. "What do you mean?"

I sat down next to her. "After Justin texted me, a bunch of good things started to happen. He invited me to come meet him personally, and then you moved in down the road. And now you get to come with me!"

She smiled. I guess she was speechless. So I smiled back at her.

We got back into our regular clothes and she started to pack her bags. After she finished packing, we walked over to my house and she helped me pack my stuff.

When we were both done, we decided to go outside and take a walk. Neither of us said anything, but I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

Our lives have just changed tremendously.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_**Shelby's POV:**_

Sheridan and I got out of my mom's car and slammed the doors shut. We were at the airport. It was finally time to go to L.A. to meet Justin.

"I can't believe this!" Sheridan exclaimed. I couldn't do anything but smile. I was in too much shock.

"Dude, how come you aren't saying anything? This is awesome!" she said.

I nodded. "I know. I'm just in shock. I can't believe this is happening."

She just smiled and kept on walking. We had to make it to the plane on time; otherwise, we wouldn't meet Justin.

*Later*

"Ahh, finally! I can sit down!" Sheridan said to me.

I couldn't even recognize her. She cut her hair into a different style. She still looked pretty, she just looks like one of those punk rock people.

"Yeah, for four and a half hours!" I said. We both laughed.

Then the pilot announces that we should put our seatbelts on and prepare for take off.

When we were up in the air, Sheridan put her headphones in her ears and started listening to music. I did the same.

Then I fell asleep.

_**Justin's POV:**_

I'm in the car on the way to the airport to meet up with Shelby and Sheridan. Chaz is with me.

"Hey man, you said that this Shelby girl has a friend, correct?" Chaz asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, you think you'll be interested?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. That depends."

"Interesting. Well, as long as you don't go after Shelby, I'm fine."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever man."

*Hours later*

When we pulled up to the airport, we started driving where the pick up section was.

Then I realized something.

"Crap! I don't even know what she looks like!" I said. I pulled out my phone and called her.

She answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey Shelby, we're here. Where are you?"

"We're all the way at the end of the pick up section. Just keep driving. We're outside."

"Okay, what are you wearing?"

"Um, dark blue shorts and a yellow dressy tank top. My hair is kind of an auburn color. And Sheridan should be easy to spot. She's black."

I could hear Sheridan laughing in the background. She said 'Good one Shelby, good one.'

I laughed. "Okay, what does Sheridan…oh wait, never mind, I see her."

I hung up and parked right in front of them. Chaz and I hopped out and jogged over to them.

"Hey!" Shelby said when she saw me.

Sheridan stood further back and watched as I hugged her.

"Don't be shy Sheridan! There's plenty of Bieber to go around!" I walked up to her and hugged her.

"Trust me, I'm not anywhere _near_ shy." She said. I laughed.

I looked behind me to find Chaz staring at Sheridan. She must have noticed.

"Um, you alright there dude? You seem to be a little dazed." Sheridan said to him.

He snapped out of his daze and struggled to find words to say. Sheridan just laughed and walked back over to her bags. Chaz followed her.

"Don't worry, I got these!" he said to her.

"Wow, Chaz is actually helping someone do something? I never thought this day would come." I shook my head and laughed while Chaz put her bags in the trunk.

I walked over to Shelby's stuff and took it all to my car. Boy, did they have a lot of bags! And they were heavy too.

"Jeez, what did you guys pack in here?" I asked.

They both smiled, but only Sheridan spoke.

"Oh, you know, the usual things girls pack. Hair brush, make up, shoes, clothes…" She burst out into all smiles.

So did Chaz. I looked at him and shook my head.

"Chaz, you're such a hopeless romantic." I said.

"Oh, and you're one to talk?!" Chaz shouted, and then laughed.

My jaw dropped. I pretended to be sad. "I'm hurt."

Chaz waved me off. Sheridan walked up to me.

"Suck it up Bieber. Let's get a move on! I'm tired of being here!" She said.

"Well okay then missy." I said, smiling. She shook her head.

"So, where are me and Shelby going to sit in this car?"

"You can sit in the back with me!" Chaz said, immediately.

Sheridan smiled at him with a smile on her face. "Okay then. I guess I'm sitting with you."

She walked over to the left side of my car and Chaz opened the door for her.

Then I remembered Shelby was standing behind me. She was sitting on one of her left over suit cases that I hadn't packed yet. I walked over to her.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you talking?" I asked her.

"Um, I don't know…I guess I'm just still in shock. I honestly can't believe I'm here."

I smiled. "Yeah, that's normal. Trust me." I said.

"Well, not really. I mean, look at Sheridan! She just started talking to you like she's known you forever."

"Well, that's just her. Everybody's different. Now come on, get in the front seat. It's time to hang out Bieber style!"

She laughed and got up off of her suitcase. I walked over to it and grabbed it to put it in the trunk. Then I opened the door for her.

She sat down and we headed off into the L.A. traffic. I turned up the music and we started screaming along to the lyrics. Well, me and Sheridan did. Shelby just looked at us and smiled, or looked out the window.

"Don't worry Shelby; I'll make sure you have fun. Just watch." I said.

She looked at me and smiled.

I turned my eyes back to the road. The road to a great summer.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_**Shelby's POV:**_

While Sheridan and Justin screamed to the lyrics, I looked out the window and started thinking.

_What if Justin ends up liking Sheridan?_

_What if I don't have fun while I'm here?_

Here's the thing I worried about the most.

_What if Sheridan gets bored with me and leaves me for Chaz?!_

"Shelby, chill. I would never do that to you." Sheridan said to me.

I swiveled around in my seat to face her. "How did you…?"

"I'm just cool like that." She said. She didn't say anything more. She just pulled out her phone and started texting.

I turned back around and stared out the window shield, completely bewildered.

Justin turned down the music and started talking to me.

"So, how old are you Shelby?" he asked me.

"I'm fifteen." I said. As soon as I said that, Taylor Swift's song _Fifteen_ started playing. I just stared at the radio.

"That was weird." I said.

Justin smiled and nodded.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then I closed it. I honestly didn't know what to say.

"I saw that. What were you gonna say?" he said.

"Um, uh…I don't know?" I said. It came out like a question. I was so nervous.

"Why are you so nervous Shelby?" he asked.

"I…I don't know. I'm not really...that great at talking to guys…if you haven't noticed that yet."

He laughed. "Well, you're talking to me right now…if you haven't noticed." He mocked me.

I closed my eyes and smiled. "Yeah, but you know what I mean."

He shifted in the seat. "Yeah, I get it. But why? You look like you'd have guys coming up to you left and right."

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. "Well, no…not even close. Not that many guys come up to me."

He looked over at me. "Wow, really? That's odd. You're like, one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever met."

I blushed. "That's sweet…thanks." I said.

"No problem. It's never a problem to tell a girl how beautiful she is."

"Justin stop! You're embarrassing me…" I said, smiling.

"Since when was it embarrassing to hear the truth?" He asked.

I smacked him on the shoulder. "I said stop." He laughed.

"Oh Shelby, you crack me up."

I started to hear snoring in the back seat. I turned around and saw Sheridan wrapped in Chaz's arms, and they were both sleeping.

"Aw, how cute!" I said.

Justin looked in the rear view mirror. "Whoa, they clicked fast!"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they did."

We continued driving on silence.

*Later*

"Here we are. This is where we're staying!"

Justin shook my arm to wake me up.

"Huh?" I said, as I sat up. Now my neck was hurting.

I made sure my eyes were adjusted to the light before I opened them all the way. I watched Justin open the back door of his car and smack Chaz on the head.

"C'mon love monkey. Time to wake up."

Chaz started to move around, but Sheridan was still asleep. I rolled my eyes.

"Sheridan. Sheridan! Get up child!" I shouted.

She immediately woke up and started to get out of the car.

I laughed and started to help Chaz and Justin with the bags.

"No, just wait over there. We got this." Justin said.

I smiled and walked over to the side walk. Sheridan followed me, and then laid her head on my shoulder.

"Are you still tired?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I am." She said.

"So am I."

Justin and Chaz brought out bags to the sidewalk. They only allowed us to take one. They carried the rest.

We started walking toward the entrance of the fancy hotel.

I couldn't wait to start having fun.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_**Still Shelby's POV:**_

Justin and Chaz led the way into the hotel. Then Chaz started heading for the elevators. We didn't realize that Sheridan and Justin weren't following us until we got all the way to them.

We turned around. "Are you guys coming?"

They shook their heads.

"I'm completely terrified of elevators." Sheridan said.

Justin nodded in agreement. "I'm not getting on there."

Chaz looked down at me and rolled his eyes. I smiled.

"You two are such babies." He said to them.

Sheridan struck an attitude and stalked over to Chaz. Then she used her purse to smack him in the face.

"You wanna try that again Chaz?!" she shouted.

Chaz reached up and touched his cheek. "Um, OW?" he shouted down at her.

"Take it back or I kick you in the place you don't wanna be kicked in." she was serious too.

Justin looked at her with a surprised look on his face. "Wow Sher, didn't know you had it in you."

Sheridan turned back around to face Justin. "Yeah, well, now you know. Don't mess with me after I wake up."

She turned around and started walking toward the stairs. "I'll meet you guys up there, since you're just going to stand around. I'm tired."

Justin turned around and followed her. "Yeah, I'm taking the stairs too."

"With all of those bags?" Chaz said.

Justin looked down at all the bags. "Well, I'm not getting in that elevator, and I'm being a gentleman and taking Shelby's bags for her, so, yes, with all these bags."

I smiled and looked at him. "Thanks Justin, but I'm not letting you strain yourself by carrying all my bags up the stairs."

"Need help?" A guy in a uniform walked over. I'm assuming he was the bellboy.

I nodded. "Yes, we do, thank you." He smiled at me and nodded. He looked pretty young to be working as a bellboy at a 5-star hotel.

Maybe it was a summer job.

The whole time the bellboy was gathering the bags and putting them on the cart, he kept looking over and smiling at me. I kept smiling back. Then I looked over at Justin.

He was glaring at the bellboy, then looking at me sympathetically.

I didn't know what to do. I thought the boy was just being friendly. Apparently, he was being more than friendly, because Justin wasn't satisfied with it.

"Um…I'm just going to go upstairs to go check on Sheridan. See you guys in a few minutes."

The bellboy turned around and waved at me. I waved back and smiled, then turned toward the stairs.

We were staying on the seventeenth floor, so I don't understand who would take the stairs over the elevator to get all the way up there. But I continued anyway.

When I finally got up to the seventeenth floor, I walked down the halls trying to find our room number. We were in room seventeen, to match the seventeenth floor. I thought that was pretty cool.

I finally found it and put the key in the lock. I walked inside, and I was amazed. I was so big! There was a living room, two huge bathrooms, and only two bedrooms…but they were huge also!

Inside each room, there was a king sized bed!

"Sheridan? Where are you?" I walked around the gigantic space trying to find her.

I saw her suitcase beside the couch in the living room. But I couldn't find her.

Then I felt a warm breeze brush past me from my side. I looked over and saw that there was a door to a balcony. As I made my way over to it, I saw the back side of Sheridan through the door.

"Sheridan?" I said, as I approached her.

"Yeah, I'm out here." She replied.

I stepped out onto the balcony and was surprised at how big it was. It was the size of one of the bedrooms in the suite!

"Wow, this is so cool." I said.

"Yeah, it is."

"Are you okay? You seem upset." I asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just in a crappy mood."

"Because of what Chaz said?"

"No. Well, yeah. When people say crap like that to me right after I wake up, I get pissed off."

I nodded. "I don't blame you."

She sighed and turned around. "Well, I think I'm going to go take a shower and get changed."

"Okay. I guess I could do that too."

We both headed inside and walked into the bathrooms. Then I realized that I didn't bring anything into the bathroom to change into.

I walked out of the bathroom. Sheridan walked out at the same time.

"Did you forget something?" She asked me, smiling.

I nodded. "Yeah, I did." We both laughed and walked over to the suitcases we brought up.

We grabbed what we needed and went back into the bathrooms.

_**Justin's POV:**_

That stupid bellboy was hitting on Shelby. I don't _think_ so.

"So…you like her?" I asked him as he was still piling bags onto the cart.

He looked over at me. "Well, she's pretty."

I nodded. "Cool." I said. I didn't want my jealousy to show.

Chaz walked over and slapped me on the back of the head. "Oh please! You're so jealous! Just admit it!"

I looked up at him and smirked. "No I am NOT."

He rolled his and walked over to the elevator. "Well, he got all the stuff packed up, so I'm getting on the elevator. See you in a few years." he said sarcastically and stepped onto the flight of fear.

I turned around and opened the door to the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Still Justin's POV:**_

I ran up the first five flights of stairs, and then started to get tired. So I started walking – very slowly – up to the hotel room.

When I finally made it to the seventeenth floor, I sat down right in front of the door, and started panting.

I got a hold of myself and opened the door that led to the hallway. As I made my way to room seventeen, I saw a girl walking toward me, and she was crying. I stopped her.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "N-no…I'm not…but thanks for asking." She tried to shove me away and keep walking, but I didn't let her.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's nothing. Please just let me go."

"No, not until you tell me what's wrong."

"It's personal. I don't want to talk about it."

I let her go and she rushed away down the hall, and toward the elevator.

I sighed and pulled out my key to the room. When I got inside, I saw Shelby and Sheridan walk out of the bathroom at the same exact time. It was so weird, because both bathrooms are lined up exactly on both sides of the room.

"Wow that was weird." They said in unison. Then they burst into laughter.

"Yeah, it was." I said. They both gasped and looked over at me.

"Oh my gosh Justin, don't _do_ that!" Sheridan shrieked.

I smiled. "Sorry."

I looked around. "Where's Chaz?"

They both shrugged. "We haven't seen him. If you didn't know, we were both in the bathroom at the same time."

I nodded, and pulled out my phone to call him.

"Hello, Chaz?" I said.

"Aye, what's up?" He said.

"Um, what are you doing? Where are you?"

"I'm coming down the hall now. I was just talking to this girl." He said.

My phone speaker was kind of loud, so I'm guessing Sheridan heard it. She turned and walked into one of the bedrooms and closed the door.

I felt horrible. "Oh…well okay, see you in a few."

I hung up and looked over at Shelby. She looked at me and looked down at her feet.

"Um, I think I'm going to go talk to her." She said. She went into the bedroom, and I sat down on the couch.

Then Chaz came in and led the bellboy to the living room to put the girls' stuff down.

The bellboy seemed to be looking for Shelby, but couldn't find her. So he just left. He didn't ask for a tip or anything.

Chaz sat down on the couch beside me. "Where are the girls?" he asked.

I sighed. "Well, they're in their bedroom. Shelby's talking to Sheridan."

"What happened to Sher?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." I said, as I got up and walked over to their bedroom door.

"Is everyone decent? Can I come in?"

I was surprised to see that Sheridan was the one who opened the door.

"Yeah, you can come in."

I followed her in and sat down on the bed next to Shelby. Sher just walked over to the desk over by the wall and sat down.

She pulled out her Mac book and started typing away.

I looked at Shelby. "Is she okay?"

She looked over at Sheridan and then back to me. "I don't know. She didn't say anything when I asked her if she'd heard what Chaz said."

"Well, if you heard it, then she had to have heard it." I said. Shelby nodded.

"True." She said. My shoulders slumped.

Chaz already messed everything up.

Then he knocked on the bedroom door. "Can I come in?"

Sheridan didn't move. Shelby and I looked at her. Sheridan still didn't say anything.

I shrugged. "Yeah, you can."

He opened the door slowly. "Is everything okay? It's really quiet."

Sheridan still didn't move. I was starting to get worried.

"Everything is fine…I think." Shelby said.

I looked at her. "Yeah, we're fine."

Chaz slowly nodded, and looked over at Sheridan. Normally, she'd be talking to him. So I figured he guessed he did something wrong.

He mouthed for me to come out there with him. I got up and walked out.

"What's wrong with Sher?" he asked me.

"Well, when I called you and you told me you were talking to some girl, Sheridan heard. So did Shelby. My phone speaker isn't all that quiet."

Chaz looked down at his feet. "Crap…" He said.

"Do you even like Sheridan?" I asked him.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I do."

I raised my eyebrows and then let them drop back into place.

"Looks like you have to go tell her that."

I walked back over to the bedroom door and told Shelby to follow me out. She stood up and walked over.

"Hey look, we're going to go hangout while Chaz tries to get Sheridan to speak. I mean, if she isn't happy the whole time you guys are here, there won't be any fun!"

She nodded and we walked out of the hotel room.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_**Sheridan's POV:**_

I logged into Twitter and started tweeting about what was going on. Then Chaz walked into the room. I didn't even want to look at him. I felt so stupid.

I mean, why would Chaz like _me?_ Out of all the girls he could get, why would he even choose to _look_ at me?

"Hey, um, can we talk?" he said. I stopped typing and thought about it.

"I don't know, _can_ we?"

"I don't kn- wait, yes, we can?" He said in question form.

I formed a small smile. "Okay."

"Alright, look…about that girl I was talking to, it was nothing. Honestly, I don't even think I enjoyed talking to her. I swear! I promise I won't…"

"You don't have to promise you won't talk to anymore girls to make me happy." I said.

"…How did you know that I was going to say that?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I'm just cool like that."

He nodded. "Well, are we cool then?"

I looked down at my hands. "Um, yeah. I guess we are."

"Cool. Well, do you want to go hang somewhere?" He asked.

"Sure, where?" I asked.

"How about a movie?"

I nodded and smiled. "Sounds like fun."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the hotel room.

_**Shelby's POV:**_

I had no idea where Justin was taking me. I just opened his car door for me and told me to get in.

"Okay, I feel like I'm being kidnapped. Can you tell me where we're going?" I asked.

He laughed. "I'm taking you shopping." He said.

"You actually want to go shopping?" I asked him.

"Heck yeah!" He said. I laughed and looked out the window. It was so beautiful here. And hot.

"Oh, and Shelby?" He said,

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to be paying for everything."

"No! No, Justin I'm not letting you buy things for me."

"And why not? I want to. Most girls would be all like 'OMG okay!'"

"Well, I'm not most girls."

He looked over at me. "Shelby, I _insist _that you let me pay. In fact, I _demand _you let me pay."

I looked at him square in the eyes. "And what if I say no?"

"Then I'll have to do this."

He grabbed my head and jammed his lips onto mine. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. Then he pulled away. I fell back onto my seat with my jaw dropped.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"Y-yeah, I'm…fine." I said, still in shock.

He laughed. "Okay, good." He started the car and pulled off.

"So, you're going to let me pay now, correct?" he asked.

I nodded my head. "Uh, yeah. You can pay."

He smiled. "Yes!"

"Why are you so excited to _give away_ money?"

"Because I'm doing it for you."

I couldn't take this. He was just too darn sweet!

I smiled. "Okay then."

We were silent for the rest of the ride. I kept thinking about that kiss. I still couldn't believe it happened.

I rested my head on the seat and looked straight ahead. I decided to text Sheridan and see what was going on.

_Me: Hey Sher, is everything going well?"_

_Sher: Yeah, he's taking me out to the movies._

_Me: Omg, really?! Congrats!_

_Sher: Thanks (:_

"Sheridan and Chaz are fine. They're going to the moves!" I said, excitedly.

Justin looked over at me, then back at the road. "Really? That's great! That's more time with you." He smiled and looked at me again.

"Justin, you're just too sweet. You know that?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I know."

We arrived at the mall and he parked right in front. He put on some shades and a hat before he got out of the car. He walked over to my side of the car and opened the door for me.

"Thanks." I said.

He put his arm around my waist and led me into the mall.

"Where do you want to go first?" He asked.

"Uh, I don't know…Hollister?"

"Then you _do_ know." He said, laughing.

I laughed too. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

We headed into Hollister. I've never been on a shopping date before, so it was kind of weird at first to have Justin following me around the store. But I got used to it after a while.

I didn't see anything I liked. So we left and went into Aeropostale.

I bought a few things from there. I didn't want Justin to spend all his money. When we left the store, there was a group of three girls walking toward us.

One of the girls spoke to Justin.

"Hey, are you Justin Bieber?" she asked.

"Um, yeah…I am." He said.

"This is so cool! Well, we just wanted to say hi…so hi!" Then they walked away from us.

"Wow, they were nice enough to not start a riot." He said.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Where to now?" he asked.

"I don't know, why don't you pick this time?"

"Well, today is supposed to be all about you…" He said.

"Well, if it's all about me, and I tell you that I want you to pick a place to go, then doesn't what I say go?"

He looked down, and then back at me. "Yeah, I guess you right."

I laughed. "Okay, so pick a place!"

He pointed to a store. I looked at where he was pointing and my smile faded.

"Justin…no freaking way." I said.

"Aw, come on! Please? I want to see you try one on!"

"There's no way I'm going into a store that's full of dresses Justin. It's just not going to happen!"

"And why not?"

"I don't like wearing that many dresses. I didn't even pack one." I said.

"Well, you're going to need some. I don't think jeans are in the dress code for fancy restaurants Shelby."

"Fancy restaurants?" I asked.

"Yeah. Fancy restaurants." He said. "So let's go!"

I sighed and followed him into the store full of dresses. All the colors were blinding me.

"There it is." He said. He pointed to a dress that was behind me. I turned around and gasped. It was gorgeous.

It was light purple, and had one shoulder strap for the left shoulder. It had ruffles going through the center of it in a diagonal direction. It was flawless.

"It's so pretty Justin." I said, feeling its texture.

It was so smooth.

"I want to buy it for you." He said.

I found the price tag, and…let's just say my eyes popped right out of my head.

"UH, Justin, I'm not letting you buy this for me." I said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It's $1,000!" I whispered.

"So?"

I looked at him like he was crazy. "That's crazy expensive for a piece of fabric. I'm not letting you do it."

He sighed. "At least go try it on for me. Please?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, fine." I took one of the dresses and walked into the dressing room.

The dress fit perfectly. And it looked so good on me. Justin did a great job picking it out.

"Do you have it on yet?" he asked.

I walked out and stood in front of him.

His eyes widened. "Shelby, I'm getting this dress for you." He said.

"NO, Justin you're not!" I said. Then I turned and looked at the full sized mirror. I did look really good in it. But it was so expensive!

"Shelby, I have to. You look absolutely beautiful in that dress. Not that you don't look beautiful in anything else, but you know what I mean."

"You think _I'm beautiful?"_ I asked, in shock.

"Yes, I do. Is that a problem?"

"Er, no…I was just shocked. That's all."

"Shelby, you should already know that you're beautiful. No matter what. Someone shouldn't have to tell you."

I smiled. "Thanks Justin."

"Now get out of that dress. I'm buying it right now."

I sighed and walked back into the dressing room to change.

When I cam out, Justin took the dress right up to the check out desk and bought it for me.

"Justin, I can't believe you just did that."

"Did what?"

"Spent that much money on one thing."

"Well, it's for you, so it's worth it."

I smiled and looked down. "Well, thanks for getting it for me."

"No problem beautiful."

He grabbed my hand and we started walking to the food court.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_**Sheridan's POV:**_

Chaz was really sweet. He insisted on paying for everything. He bought me a bunch of candy. I couldn't help but smile.

When the movie ended, Chaz led me out to the lobby. I told him that I had to go to the bathroom, so he said he would wait for me.

Well, when I got out, I saw Chaz holding _some other girl._ I was about to walk up to them and see what was going on, but then he _kissed_ her!

I've been hurt twice in one day, indirectly. That's the worst way to get hurt.

I slowly walked past them and slipped out the door. Then I took out my phone and called a taxi to come get me. This was going to be a _long_ vacation.

_**Shelby's POV:**_

When we got to the food court, Justin sat me down and told me he'd be right back with our food. I nodded and watched him walk away.

I decided to check on Sheridan, because she hadn't texted me all day.

_Me: Hey, is everything okay?_

_Sheridan: No, Chaz just messed everything up. But I'll be fine, you and Justin have fun(:_

_Me: Wait, what happened? No, I won't have fun if you aren't. Where are you?_

_Sheridan: I'm back at the hotel._

_Me: Okay, I'm telling Justin to take me there right now. Be there in a few._

_Sheridan: *Sigh* Okay._

I wondered what happened between them.

Justin walked back over to our table with a tray full of food. I felt bad about having to let it go to waste, but friends came before food.

As soon as he sat down, I told him.

"Justin, Chaz made Sheridan upset, and now she's back at the hotel all by herself."

"What happened? Did she tell you?"

"No, she said 'Chaz messed everything up'. She didn't say anything else."

"Well, you should eat first. You haven't eaten all day." He said.

"But-"

"Shelby, eat. Now." He said.

"Fine."

After I finished eating, Justin threw everything away and grabbed my hand. We walked through the parking lot and got into the car.

*Later*

We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and I got out and ran inside. I don't know why I was running, it wasn't like she was hurt or anything.

I slowed my pace and headed for the elevator.

When I got to the room, I took out my key and went inside.

"Sheridan? Where are you?"

A few seconds later, she walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"Hey, what's the rush?" She said.

"I came back here to see what happened."

"Oh, well, I went to the bathroom, came back out and found him kissing another girl." She said.

Then she turned and walked into the bedroom.

"That's horrible! Why would he do that?" I said.

She shrugged. "I don't know. He's just a player."

"So…you don't care?" I asked.

"Well, it's not like I was dating him. I'm not going to let that ruin my summer."

Then Justin came in the room.

"Alright, what did Chaz do this time?"

I turned to him. "She went to the bathroom, came back out and found him kissing another girl."

Justin rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous. He's so low."

Sheridan shrugged. "Yep. He is."

Justin looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"It does. Really. But I'm choosing to suck it up, rather than starting a scene and letting him ruin my summer."

He nodded and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, that's a good way to look at it."

Sheridan came out of the closet with different clothes on than she had on before.

"Yeah. So, what are you two going to do now?" she said.

Justin looked at me and I looked down at my hands. "I'm not sure. Do you want to do something with us?" I asked her.

"I don't want to ruin you guy's day together. Isn't it all about Shelby day or something?" she asked.

"Yeah, but we pretty much covered everything." Justin said.

"Yeah, Justin bought me this $1,000 dress." I said. He walked over to me and hugged me.

Sheridan smiled. "That's sweet!" She said. She was turning into her old self again.

"Well, I guess we can hang around here and watch movies." I suggested.

"…Unless you've got things to do today Justin. Me and Sheridan could just stay here."

"No, I don't have to do any work until Wednesday."

"Oh, alright!" Sheridan said.

"Why don't you pick a movie to watch?" Justin asked Sheridan.

"Okay, I will."

Justin sat in between us on the couch. It was so sweet of him to include Sheridan in this too.

We were laughing throughout the movies and having a great time…until Chaz walked through the door.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_**Still Shelby's POV:**_

When Chaz came in, he walked straight up to Sheridan.

"What happened to you? How could you just leave without even telling me?!" he shouted.

Sheridan's smile left the building. "Well what happened to _you?_ How could you kiss some other girl while I was in the bathroom?"

Chaz was struck dumb. "I…I…" he didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, choke on that, dumb ass." She said. She turned, walked into the bedroom, and walked back out with her purse and stormed out of the door.

Chaz was still standing in the same place. He didn't even turn around to watch her leave. He knew he was wrong.

"Well, you've done it again, and all in one day. What's wrong with you? You really hurt her Chaz!" Justin shouted at him. Chaz finally turned around. I was shocked at what I saw.

He was crying.

Justin walked up to him. "Look man, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"

Chaz cut him off by pushing him away. He slowly walked into him and Justin's bedroom and closed the door. I heard it lock.

"Justin, what are we going to do?" I asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But we have to try to find Sher. Were do you think she went?"

"I don't know. I'll call her."

I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. She picked up right before it went to voicemail.

"What?" she said. She sounded super angry.

"Um…Justin and I just wanted to make sure you were okay…where are you?"

She didn't speak for awhile.

"Sheridan?" I said.

"I'm fine." She replied.

"I'm really sorry he did that to you. Justin yelled at him after you left, and Chaz feels horrible about everything. He even cried."

She sighed. "I honestly do not care anymore. I'm done." She hung up.

"What did she say?" Justin asked.

"She hung up on me. She said she's done. I don't know what that means…" I replied.

He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"This is messed up. You know what? I'm going to go out and find her. She can't keep running away." He said.

I nodded. "Alright. I'll wait here."

Justin grabbed his phone and his keys and walked out of the door.

_**Justin's POV:**_

I took the stairs down to the car garage and hopped in my car. I was going to find her, and I hoping to find her in less than an hour.

I pulled out of the parking garage and started driving down the roads of Los Angeles. I decided to check the beach. That seemed like a place where people would go to relax.

I drove a couple miles and then ended up at part of the beach. It was quiet, and there weren't many people around. I started to look around for her. I didn't see her at first, but then I saw her sitting on a rock facing the ocean.

I jogged up to her. "Sheridan! Sheridan, are you okay?"

She sniffled in response. She was crying.

When I got to her, she got up and started to walk away. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Sher, look, we need to talk." She looked down at her feet and didn't say anything.

She sat back down on the rock and I sat down next to her.

"Okay, so tell me exactly what happened?"

She shook her head. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"You have to tell somebody. I'm willing to listen."

She lifted her head, but didn't look at me. She looked out to sea.

"I'm just done. I give up. I don't care anymore." She said.

"And why is that?"

She shrugged. "This same thing always happens to me with guys. It never, ever works. And I'm sick of it." She looked back down.

"Look, I'm sorry that this always happens to you, but you said it yourself."

She looked up at me. "What did I say?"

"You said you weren't going to let any of this ruin your summer, no matter what happened between you and Chaz."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess I should do that. It just hurts. This has never happened to me before. No guy has ever hurt me twice in the same day. Ever."

I nodded. "Yeah, Chaz is totally ridiculous. He's such a player. I just don't want you to be upset all summer. I want you to have fun!"

She smiled, and I laughed. Then she laughed. This was working out well.

"Well, do you wanna come back now? Shelby was worried sick."

She shrugged. "I don't know."

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Please Sher?"

She half smiled and shrugged my hand off of her. "Um, alright."

"Okay, great. Let's go."

I walked her back to my car and we were off to the hotel. When we got there, we both headed for the stairs.

_*Later*_

Chaz still hasn't come out of the bedroom yet. Shelby said he never came out once when I went out looking for Sheridan. I was starting to get concerned.

Sheridan didn't seem to care much. Shelby kept walking over to the door and knocking on it.

"Chaz? Are you okay? Please answer me?" she would say. No answer.

She started to give up. We all knew he wasn't going to open the door.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chaz's POV:**_

I can't believe I did that. I just can't. What's wrong with me? Who hurts the same girl twice in the same day?

Now she seriously hates me. And I really like her too. I won't be able to fix this. At least…I don't think. I could try. I walked over to the bed and sat down. I've been standing this whole time. I heard Sheridan come back into the room with Justin. And I ignored Shelby when she knocked on the door.

Not because I wanted to, I just didn't have anything to say. I didn't feel like being told I was wrong, even though I knew I was. I sat and thought about something for a little while, and then I decided to walk out there and see what was going on.

I hesitated when I got to the door. I just stood there and stared at the door, like I was going to force it open with my mind. I didn't work. Without a second thought, I had my hand around the doorknob, and my wrist was turning. Then the door was open, and I was exposed. Too late. Can't turn around and hide now, because they already saw me.

"Hey Chaz, are you okay?" Shelby asked. I looked at Sheridan. She was sitting on the couch, watching the television. She didn't even pay any mind when I opened the door. I felt a pang of hurt in my chest.

I managed to nod my head to answer Shelby's question. I still wasn't able to say anything. Justin got up and walked over to me.

"Hey man, you alright?" he asked.

I nodded. He gave me one of our famous man hugs and then walked back over to the couch and sat down. I just stood there looking like an idiot. I kept looking at Sheridan. Staring dead at her, hoping she would decide to spare me and at least look me in the eyes once. Just once. That's all I want. Even if she never speaks to me again, all I need is for her to look at me.

She never did. I knew she could feel me staring at her. She just wasn't giving in. Sheridan was taking up one half of the couch, while Shelby and Justin were taking up the other half, so I had to sit in the recliner. Alone. Justin got to put his arm around Shelby, and Sheridan was sitting over there, alone. I really wanted her. Badly. I couldn't control this anymore. I had to talk to her. I stood up.

"Sheridan, can I _please _talk to you? Please?" I asked her. She turned her head to look at me.

"Why?" she asked.

I looked her square in the eyes. "We need to talk."

Justin and Shelby turned their heads to see her reaction. "Fine." Sher said. She got up and followed me out into the hall.

When she came out of the hotel room, I closed the door and looked at her. She wasn't looking at me.

"Look Sher, I'm going to start off by saying I'm extremely sorry. For everything I did to you today. This is your first day here, and I'm probably making it the worst day of your life. I…I don't know what to say about what happened today…I mean, she just came up to me and started talking, and the next thing I knew, we were kissing.

"I really didn't mean to hurt you. I know you probably won't forgive me for any of this, but I just wanted to at least attempt to make things right. I really like you…a lot…and I guess I'm just not used to just being with one person at a time. I'm so used to playing the field…I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm just…I'm sorry." I put my hands over my head and tried to hold back all of my emotions.

I turned away from her and faced the opposite side of the hall. Then I felt her arms wrap around my waist.

"I forgive you Chaz. That was really sweet." She said. I felt so extremely happy.

She talked to me!

I placed my hands on top of hers. She was a whole head shorter than me, so it was difficult to hug her. But I turned around and picked her up for a hug. I didn't care if the people that were coming out of the elevator saw us.

I didn't care if the people going in and out of their suites saw us. I just held her like there was no tomorrow, and I just met her today.

_**Shelby's POV:**_

It's been awhile since Sher and Chaz went into the hallway, and I haven't heard any yelling and screaming yet. I decided to go check it out. I was shocked when I opened the door. Chaz was holding Sher in his arms, and they were just…in the middle of the hall like that.

I have to admit, that's really sweet though. I'm glad they made up. They didn't even notice me when I opened the door, so I just closed it and turned around.

"What's going on out there?" Justin asked me.

I smiled wide. "They made up. They're just standing in the middle of the hallway wrapped in each other's arms. It's the cutest thing!" I cooed.

Justin smiled and performed one of his famous hair flips. I have to admit, his hair flip looks so much better in person than on TV.

"What?" Justin asked.

I smiled. "Nothing."

We sat back down and started watching the TV again. About ten minutes later, Chaz and Sher walked in, with their fingers intertwined. They were both giggling and messing around as they sat down on the couch next to us.

"So, how's everything between you too?" Justin asked them. They answered by looking into each other's eyes and giggling even more.

Justin grimaced. I laughed.

We all watched the TV and laughed and cried through the movies. Not once did Chaz and Sher fight. I was so proud. This vacation was finally ready to begin.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_**Shelby's POV:**_

After the movie was over, everyone was sleeping. I didn't even notice until now. I mean, who falls asleep during _The Notebook_?

Justin's head was in my lap, and he was snoring now. I rolled my eyes and shook him until he woke up.

"Huh? What's going on?" he said as he sat up.

"You and everyone else fell asleep on me during the movie." I said.

He looked at the TV and saw the credits rolling. "Oops, sorry Shelby."

I sighed. "It's fine. It's about time to go to sleep anyway."

I got up off the couch and walked into me and Sher's bedroom to change into my pajamas. Justin followed me.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "No. Why would I be?"

"Well, because I fell asleep on you."

"You really didn't fall asleep on _me,_ just the movie."

He nodded. "Well, I'll let you change." he got up and walked out of the room.

As soon as I had changed into my pj's, Sheridan walked into the room. She was half asleep, and mumbling to herself.

I laughed. "You okay Sher?"

She nodded. "Uh huh."

She started to change into her nightclothes, and then got under the covers of her bed.

It was amazing. It's like she was asleep before her head even him the pillow.

Then Justin walked back into my room and sat down next to me.

"She's already asleep?" He asked, watching as Sheridan lay there, frozen in sleep.

I nodded. "She was asleep before her head even hit the pillow."

"Wow." He said.

"Is Chaz awake?" I asked him, not wanting to get up and check for myself.

He shook his head. "No, he's still laying on the couch asleep. I'm debating whether I should wake him up or not." he said.

I nodded. "I'll do it." I said, smiling.

I got up and walked into the main room where Chaz was knocked out cold on the couch.

I shook him. "Chaz?" I said.

I shook him again. "Chaz? Wake up!"

He perked up and fell onto the floor. "Whoa. What time is it?" He asked, looking around.

"It's 9:30." I replied. "Sheridan went to sleep already." He nodded and got up and went to go change.

I walked back into my room and Justin was still there. Except, he looked really tired now.

"Justin, you really need to go to bed. You have bags under your eyes."

He looked up at me and smiled. "You do too."

I nodded. "Yeah I know. They look terrible. Hopefully they'll be gone by morning."

He smiled again and then got up. "See you in the morning."

"Night." I said.

I got under the covers and turned off the lamp on my side of the room. I looked over at Sheridan one last time.

"This is going to be an amazing summer." I said to myself.

_**-Later-**_

I woke up to the smell of pancakes and eggs.

Sheridan wasn't in bed anymore. I heard a bunch of voices outside of my room. I walked over to the mirror before walking out to make sure I looked decent. Of course, my hair was wild.

I grabbed my brush and brushed my hair into place before walking out.

"Hey guys." I said, tiredly.

"Hey!" Sher said.

Justin looked at me from behind the stove. Apparently, he was the one cooking.

I walked over to him and watched what he was doing. He was just about done, cooking, so I went into the bathroom and cleaned myself up some more.

When I came out, there were plates on the counter. Of course, he and Chaz had the biggest servings.

Sheridan didn't eat very much at all, and then went to go take a shower.

After I finished eating, I went into the other bathroom to take a shower.

I dried myself off afterwards, put on a robe, and then walked out of the bathroom and into my bedroom to change into some clothes.

Sheridan was already dressed in some shorts and a dressy tank top.

I just put on some jeans and a t-shirt. I wasn't feeling dressy today.

Sheridan walked out of the room. "So what are we going to do today?" she asked the guys.

I walked out behind her with my hair in a ponytail, and my arms crossed. I was still half asleep.

"Um, I'm not sure." Justin said. "Are you okay Shelby? You seem super tired."

I nodded. "I am. I don't know why, but I am."

He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Well, I hope you aren't sick. That'd be a horrible way to start the summer."

I nodded, and then felt lightheaded and fell into him.

"I don't think you should do anything today Shelby. You're too sick." Justin said.

Sheridan ran to the kitchen to get me some ice for my head. Chaz made me some tea and brought it to me.

I couldn't even open my eyes; I was so tired.

"I think we should just let her sleep." Chaz said, placing the cup of tea on the nightstand next to my bed.

Sheridan nodded. "Yeah I agree. You guys can go out, I'll watch her." She said.

"I think we should all stay here. It wouldn't be fun without Shelby with us." Justin said, sitting next to me on the bed.

Their voices soon faded as I blacked out and fell into a deep sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

When I woke up, I felt someone's arm around me.

I turned over and found Justin, laid out one the other side of the bed.

"Justin?" I whispered, still tired.

He opened his eyes. "Yes? Are you okay?" He asked, sitting up.

"Yeah I'm fine. Go back to sleep it's…" I looked at the clock on the nightstand on my side of the bed. "It's midnight."

"Wow, we've been asleep for a long time." Justin said, sleep taking over him as he lay back down against the bed.

I looked over to Sher's bed, and I didn't see her.

"Where's Sher?" I asked, totally about to collapse again, due to being so tired.

I didn't get an answer. I looked back over at Justin, and he was out cold.

I smiled and got out of bed, and walked into the living room. Sheridan and Chaz were glued together on the couch, sleeping. They left the television on, so I turned it off, and went back to bed.

I still wasn't feeling very well.

-Next day-

"Shelby, wake up."

My eyes fluttered, and I saw Justin looming over top of me.

"Shelby, I have some things to do today. I just wanted to tell you so you'd know where I was."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay, good luck."

He kissed me on the cheek, and then walked out.

I just laid on the bed for a while.

I don't know what this sickness was all about, but I really wanted it

to go away.

"Hey Shelby." I heard Sher walk into the room and sit down next to me. Chaz was right behind her.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm feeling just a little bit better."

"That's good. Chaz and I were going to go out, but we decided against it. We didn't want you to be here all by yourself." She said.

"Go ahead, I'll probably be sleeping the whole time anyway."

The two of them looked at each other. "Are you sure?" Chaz asked, putting his arm around Sheridan.

I nodded again. "Yeah. Go ahead."

"…Alright. Just call if you need something!" Sher said, as she and Chaz slowly walked out of the room, and left.

As soon as they were gone, there was an instant knock on the door.

"Oh my gosh." I groaned. I _just_ got comfortable.

I slowly got up and started walking to the door. "I'm coming."

I looked through the peek-hole and saw the same butler guy that packed up me and Sheridan's things the first day we got here.

I smiled and opened the door. "Hey."

"Hello." He said, smiling. "I just wanted to check to see if everything is alright."

I nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"That's good. Well, um, I was going to ask you, did you want to hang out today? I couldn't ask a few days ago, because that Bieber guy was giving me pretty cold glares."

I laughed and said, "Yeah, I noticed. I'd love to…although I'm not really feeling all that well today."

Concern washed over his face. "Do you have a cold?" He asked.

I nodded again. "Yeah, I think so. That's what it feels like. And I have a serious headache." I placed my hand onto my forehead and rubbed it.

"I'm sorry. We don't have to go anywhere…I could just stay here…"

I considered it. "Well, I guess that's alright. What do you want to do? Watch TV?"

He shrugged and said, "Alright. I'm Mike by the way."

"Nice to finally learn your name Mike. I'm Shelby."

"Pretty name."

I blushed. "Oh, it's nothing special."

We sat down on the couch and I turned on the TV.

"What do you want to watch?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Anything."

So I turned to some crazy Lifetime movie. We ended up talking through the whole thing. Just about summer things and the plans that we had made.

"I'm working here part time this summer so I can spare some extra cash for next year." Mike said.

"That's a really good idea." I stated.

"So how do you know that Bieber guy?" He asked.

"Oh, it's complicated."

"Are you dating him?" He asked.

I looked at him. "No. Why?"

"Just wondering."

I heard something buzz. "That's my pager. I gotta get back to work. I'll see you around." Mike said, as he got up and walked over to the door.

"Okay, see you!"

I watched as he closed the door behind him.

Now I was by myself again.

I decided to watch some more TV, since I had nothing else to do.

-Later-

"Shelby, are you awake?" I heard someone say.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the person who was talking to me.

"Yeah, now I am." I said to Justin, as he sat down on the couch next to me.

"Have you been sleeping this whole time?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, a couple of hours ago I watched some TV with Mike."

I closed my eyes and rested my head back against the arm of the chair.

"Who's Mike?" he asked, his voice firm.

"The butler guy. He's really nice."

I opened my eyes and looked over at Justin again. He didn't look too happy.

"Justin, are you upset about me hanging out with Mike?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, it was one time, and he's just really nice. I didn't say anything else about anything."

He nodded. "Alright. That's good to know. Where are Sher and Chaz?"

"They left a while ago to go hang out somewhere."

"They left you here by yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah, only because I told them I wouldn't mind."

"Okay, as long as you were okay with it."

I nodded. "What did you have to do today?"

"Just some interviews and a photo-shoot. I'm really tired."

"I'm sure you are. You should go to sleep."

He thought about it, and then got up.

"Nah, I'll just go take a shower."

"Alright."

After he left the room, I thought about Mike.


	15. Chapter 15

The past few days have been quite dull, since Justin has been working, and Sheridan and Chaz were always going out.

Mike would sometimes come over and watch some TV with me. That was always fun.

Today, he came over at around 1:00.

"Hey," he said, as I opened the door, "wanna do something different today?"

I shrugged. "Like what?"

"I don't know...there's a beach like, two seconds away. Have you even been to it yet?"

"Yeah, once."

"_Once? _Okay, you're coming with me."

"Wait! Let me just fix my hair."

He nodded and followed me into the huge room and sat on the couch.

"I'll wait here." he said.

I came out fifteen minutes later, with a completely different outfit on, and my hair was scrunched.

"Finally! That took...whoa." Mike stopped talking, and stared at me, smiling.

"What? Too much?" I asked, looking down at myself.

"N-no, you look amazing."

I had on a pink off-the-shoulder- top, my lime green bikini top was underneath it, with some faded short shorts.

"Thanks." I said, smiling. "Lets go."

Mike motioned for me to go first, and he closed the door behind him.

He was out of uniform today, and was wearing some baggy cargo shorts with an Abercrombie & Fitch polo. He looked..._hot._ And totally looked like he'd be a huge contribution to the LA population.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked me, a smirk on his face.

I blushed and looked away. "Oh, no reason."

He laughed and grabbed my hand as we exited the gorgeous hotel.

The beach was beautiful, and there were tons on people on it. Little kids were running amok, their parents trailing behind them, leaving their perfectly set up towels an umbrellas behind in the sand.

"Let's go to a more quiet area on the beach." Mike said, pulling me away from all of the chaos.

After a little ways of walking, we reached a small patch of an island. We had to walk though a little water to get there, but I wasn't complaining. As long as there were no sharks, I was fine.

"So, what do you think?" he asked me, sitting down on a pretty big log.

"It's so cool here! When did you find this place?" I asked, sitting down beside him, and looking around.

"A little while ago when I was just walking around one day."

I nodded, and we just sat there looking around for a little while. Then, out of no where, Mike scooted over really close to me, and placed his hand on my thigh.

He looked into my eyes. "I've been wanting to do this for a little while..."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, he leaned in and kissed me. Quickly and softly, and then pulled away.

I could feel my cheeks burning, and turning to the color of a tomato.

"Wow..." I murmured, staring into his eyes. They were staring back at me too.

"We should be getting back. I bet your friends are all wondering where you are."

It suddenly occurred to me that any one of them could have called me.

I checked my phone, and I had ten missed calls!

Justin, Justin, Justin, Sher, Chaz, Justin...

"_Crap!_" I thought, as I dialed Justin's number.

He didn't pick up, and my heart began to race.

It only took ten minutes to get back to the hotel, since we were walking so fast.

"I had fun. We should do that again sometime." Mike said, and then he kissed me on the cheek, and walked into the "Staff Only" room.

I ran to the elevator, and hopped on the next one that opened.

Missing all of Justin's calls was so bad. I totally wasn't even thinking about any of them this whole time. I was finally having...you know...some actual _fun._

I reached into my pocket for my room key, and slipped it into the lock and unlocked the door.

Sheridan and Chaz were sitting on the couch. Sher was biting her nails, Chaz was looking at the floor, and Justin was pacing back and forth.

"Oh my gosh guys, I'm so sorry I missed all of your calls! My phone was on silent!"

They all spun around immediately to look at me. Sheridan leaped up and hugged me.

"Oh my gosh, we thought something happened to you!" she said, squeezing me.

"I'm totally fine. Nothing happened, I swear."

Justin was just looking at me from across the room. I was about to walk over to him, but Chaz stood up and blocked me.

"Where were you?" He asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I sighed. "I was hanging out with Mike on the beach in this cool hang out spot he discovered. It just never occurred to me that you guys would wonder where I was..."

"Well, everything's fine. At least you're okay!" Sheridan said eagerly.

"Yeah, that's great." Chaz said.

"Well, we're going back out. Chaz lost a bet today, so he has to come shopping with me for two whole hours!" Sher said, and Chaz rolled his eyes.

"If we don't get back here before nine, that means I died of boredom, and I'm in the morgue."

I laughed as they walked out of the door, hand in hand.

Justin and I were now the only ones in the room.

"So, did you have fun today?" Justin asked, his arms crossed.

I sighed and sat down on the couch. "Yeah..."

"Shelby, if you wanted to hang out with someone so badly, then why didn't you just tell me?" he asked, walking over to the couch, and sitting down beside me.

"Because you were working. I don't have the authority to make you stop doing your job just to hang out with me."

"Well, after tomorrow, I won't have to do anything for a whole week. We can do something fun. Just you and me." He placed his hand on my thigh, and smiled at me.

I let out a huge breath of air. "I thought you were going to be so pissed at me."

"Why would I be pissed at you?"

"Because you called me eight times, and didn't answer. And then there was the fact that I was out with some guy you don't even know..."

"Yeah, well, I can meet him later. You seem to have a lot of fun with him..."

"Justin, I couldn't ever have as much fun with Mike in a whole month than I could have with you in one day." I said, smiling.

He smiled wide and said, "Thanks. I needed that."

"Do you have more work to do?" I asked him, looking at the time.

"Nope, I'm done for today. You wanna do something fun?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."

He decided to take me to the movies, so we got ready and left.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

When we got to the movie theater, we stood in line and tried to decide what movie to see.

"I wanna se Beastly." I said, turning to look at Justin.

He didn't look like he agreed. "I wanna watch Inception."

I crossed my arms, and raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

He shrugged. "I just don't feel like a romance."

"So I'm just magically supposed to feel like watching Inception?"

He smiled. "No…I just…do you wanna watch Inception Shelby?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Fine, we'll watch Inception."

He hugged me. "Thanks. You're awesome."

I pushed him away and walked up to the ticket booth.

"Two tickets to Inception please."

The guy behind the glass looked up and stared at me. "Shelby?"

"Mike? I thought you worked at the hotel!"

He smiled at me. "I work here some days during the week. So _you_ wanna see Inception?"

I shrugged. "That's what Justin really wants to see, so I compromised."

I felt Justin tense up beside me. "Can we just get our tickets please?"

Mike looked at Justin. "Can you give me fifteen dollars?"

Justin narrowed his eyes and pulled up his wallet. He pulled out a ten and a five and threw it at him.

"There's your fifteen dollars. Now can I have my tickets?"

I nudged him. "Justin, calm down."

He relaxed a little and looked at me. "Sorry."

Mike gave us our tickets and we walked into the theater.

"Okay, so do you want something to eat?" Justin looked down at me.

"Um, sure. I'll just take a small popcorn."

He raised an eyebrow. "A _small?_ How about a large?"

I sighed. "Okay, yeah sure. Let's get a large."

He sighed too. "Shelby, what's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm fine. Can we just get our popcorn?"

"Okay." He walked ahead of me in line, and then ordered it for us.

I crossed my arms and followed him.

He turned to look at me, and asked, "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure. I'll have a Coke please."

I noticed the cashier girl ogling Justin.

"Can I get you anything else?" She asked, leaning in closer.

Justin leaned his elbows onto the counter and leaned in too. "Yeah, I'll have an Icee."

She smiled even wider than before and then went to get our drinks.

I jabbed my elbow into Justin's side.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For flirting with _another_ girl while I'm standing right beside you!"

His smiled faded. "Shelby…I'm sorry…"

I crossed my arms around myself even tighter. For whatever reason I just wasn't feeling like being here with Justin anymore.

I wanted to go and hang with Mike.

"It's whatever."

When the girl came back with our snacks, I snatched them from her, making her lose her balance a little.

Then I started walking in the direction of the theater.

"Shelby, wait up!"

I kept walking at the same pace, but he had to jog a little to catch up.

He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

"Shelby look, I'm sorry okay? What was I supposed to do back there? Ignore her?"

I shook my head. "No, but you didn't have to flirt with her."

Then a thought struck me. If _he_ could go around flirting with other girls when he was with me, then I could flirt with other guys when I was with him.

"You know what Justin, it doesn't matter. I don't care. It's fine."

Then I smiled and turned back around and walked toward our theater.

Justin fell into step beside me, but was silent.

I knew he was probably wondering why I was so happy all of a sudden, but he'd probably find out pretty soon.

We walked into the theater and were looking for seats. There were two empty ones way at the top, so I dashed for those ones, not even bothering asking Justin where he wanted to sit.

I sat down and started sipping my drink. I could feel Justin staring at me, but I kept my eyes facing forward.

The lights dimmed and the movie finally started playing.

I leaned back in my chair and stared blankly ahead.

By the time the movie was over, I was completely confused. I had absolutely _no idea_ what had just happened in that movie.

What a complete waist of time! I couldn't even talk about this movie with anyone because I couldn't even understand it.

Throughout the movie, Justin kept trying to put his arm around me, and now, he was trying to grab at my hand.

But I wouldn't let him. I kept brushing him off, and scanning the room.

I was looking for someone to flirt with.

"Hey Shelby, I'm gonna go to the bathroom okay?"

Justin sounded like he'd wanted to talk to me the whole night.

I glanced at him. "Okay."

This was my chance.

And it worked out perfectly, because as soon as Justin disappeared into the men's room, a really cute guy walked up to me.

"Hey." He said, looking me up and down.

"Hi," I answered, flipping my hair with my hand.

"What did you just see?" He asked.

"I just watched Inception with my friend Justin. What did you see?"

"Oh, I just got here. I'm about to watch that too. Was it any good?"

I shook my head. "I didn't get it at all. Maybe you will though. It just required a lot of thinking."

He smiled. "Thanks for the tip. What's your name?"

"Shelby. What's yours?"

"I'm Brandon. You look really nice by the way."

"Thanks. Who are you here with?" I asked, looking around.

"I'm here with my older brother and his girlfriend. They're in line getting something to eat."

I nodded. "Oh okay."

Then, he pointed at my pants. "Um, you know, you're zipper is down."

I looked down immediately. "Crap! Thanks!"

I pulled up my zipper, and then felt someone's hand grab my arm.

"We gotta go Shelby." I looked up and saw Justin staring angrily at Brandon.

Brandon raised his hands in retreat and backed away. "See you later Shelby."

"Bye Brandon." I said, waving.

Justin let go of my arm and started walking to the exit. I followed him, smirking.

He was _so_ jealous.

When we got to his car, I was surprised he opened the door for me.

"Thanks." I said, and he closed the door and walked around to his side.

When he got in the car, he just sat there and stared at the wheel.

I turned to look at him. "What's wrong Justin?"

He sighed. "Shelby, was that your attempt at trying to make me jealous?"

I made a face at him. "Absolutely. And it totally worked."

He looked at me, and then did something I wasn't even expecting.

He leaned in and _kissed _me.

When he pulled away, he started the car and backed out of the parking space we were in.

Then he started driving away, toward the hotel.

I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss the whole way there.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

That was _so_ not fair.

I was supposed to be the one to win this battle.

And I lost.

I hated him so much right now. Why would he _kiss _me?

I sighed really loudly and crossed my arms.

All of a sudden, Justin pulled over to the shoulder on the highway.

I looked around to see what was going on.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking back at Justin.

He was staring at me, really hard. "Shelby, do you want to hang out with me? Do you really wanna be here? Because, I'm starting to feel like you don't. Would you rather be hanging out with Mike? Is that what the problem is?"

I looked away from him and down at my hands. "Justin, I'm just pissed off at you. I mean, I know we're not dating and all, but still. You hurt me when you were flirting with some random girl. That's all."

I was angry with myself for becoming a coward and sounding innocent. _He _was supposed to be the one who was a coward. He should be apologizing to me. He should be trying to make me feel better.

He sighed. "I told you I was sorry Shelby. What else do you want me to do?"

I grimaced, and tightened my hands into fists. "Nothing. Just…nothing."

I could still feel him staring at me intently. "Shelby, I really like you. I really do. But I just don't get why you're so mad at me. What can I do to make you happy again? You've been acting this way towards me ever since you started hanging out with that Mike kid. I just feel like you like being with him better than being with me."

I thought about that for a second, and then said, "Well, I don't know what it is about him Justin, but he makes me feel happy. I mean, I really don't like him, like in a boyfriend kind of way. I like him as a friend because I feel like I can just be myself with him. I don't feel like I'm competing for his attention."

I said that last part with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

He grabbed my chin and made me turn to face him.

"You don't feel like you can be yourself around me?"

I shook my head no.

"Shelby, you can always be yourself around me. That's what I want. I really wanna get to know _you._ Not a fake you. And you don't have to compete for my attention. I mean, I'm a famous guy Shelby. There are going to be girls that treat me like that cashier. And I have to make sure that I'm not rude to them because I love all of my fans."

I guess he had a point. He _is_ a celebrity. Celebrities have fans. I guess I didn't realize that. I always see him as a regular person.

"I never really thought of it that way. I'm sorry I've been acting so weird lately. I just…I don't know. But I do have one question."

He looked at me intently. "Yes?"

"Why'd you kiss me?"

He smirked. "What, I can't kiss a girl I really like?"

I blushed_._ "Well…I mean, I guess you can…I was just wondering. That's all."

He shook his head and smiled. "You're an interesting girl Shelby. I like that about you."

I blushed even harder, and turned to look out the window.

He grabbed my face and kissed me again, longer this time.

After he pulled away, I smiled and looked away.

Justin started the car and pulled back out onto the highway. Then he grabbed my hand and held it all the way back to the hotel.

**Later**

When we got to our floor and walked to our room, we walked in to see Chaz and Sheridan full on making out on the couch.

I was so shocked that I let go of Justin's hand and gasped, covering my mouth with my hands.

They pulled apart immediately, and started giggling.

Justin rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand. "Could you two please get a room?"

They looked at each other, and then got up off the couch. "Yeah, okay." Sher said, leading Chaz into the guys' bedroom, closing the door.

My mouth was hanging open, and Justin looked disgusted.

Justin pulled me over to the couch and wrapped his arm around me. "So, what do you wanna do now? Or are you too tired?"

I thought about it.

"Well, what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know, I asked you first."

I smiled. "Well, we could just talk."

Just then, we heard some extremely inappropriate noises coming from where Chaz and Sheridan were.

I decided I wanted to do something outside of the hotel, just so we could get away from those noises.

"Um, how about we leave here all together and go get some ice-cream? We could walk on the beach or something."

He nodded and stood up. "I agree. Let's get out of here."

Justin grabbed his wallet from the counter in the kitchen and pulled me out of the room.

**Sheridan**

Making out with Chaz was fun, but after a while, he started to get too…aggressive.

I pulled away from him. "Chaz, can we cool down a bit? I don't think I'm ready for this yet…"

He looked me in the eyes. He looked a little disappointed, but he agreed.

"Yeah, okay. I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "No, it's okay. You didn't know."

After a few minutes just sitting in silence, I was starting to regret stopping our momentum.

Chaz started playing with my hair, and I rested my head against his chest.

"Well, do you wanna watch TV or something?"

Chaz pulled me in tighter. "Yeah, sure."

He pulled me up off of the bed and led me out into the living room.

We noticed that Shelby and Justin weren't here anymore, so they must have left.

Chaz sat down and pulled me onto his lap.

"What do you wanna watch?"

I thought about it. "I don't know. Anything you want."

So he just turned on the TV to a random channel.

We ended up talking.

I was really curious about Chaz's love life, so I decided to ask him a question.

"Chaz…how many times have you…um…"

He finished my sentence. "Had sex?"

My faced burned with embarrassment, and something told me that I wouldn't wanna know the answer.

"Um…yeah…"

"Twice."

My body stiffened. "With who? Old girlfriends?"

He chuckled. "They weren't necessarily my girlfriends."

"Oh…okay then."

"Why?"

"I was just wondering…"

He wrapped his arms around me even tighter. "Calm down Sheridan. You're not ready, and I respect that. It's okay. It's not gonna change the way I feel about you."

"That's really sweet Chaz."

He looked down at me and smiled. "I know."

I smiled to myself and looked back at the TV screen.

I was beginning to really like Chaz.

_A lot._


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

**Shelby**

When Justin and I left the hotel, we walked to the dairy queen that was a couple of blocks away.

Justin had his hands in his pockets, and I had my arms crossed to try and keep warm.

The California weather was nice, but it got chilly in the evening.

"You cold?"

I looked up Justin. "Just a little."

He nodded, and started walking toward a gift shop. When we walked inside, there were girls about my age in there looking at hats.

When they saw Justin come through the door, they gave him all of their attention.

"Oh my gosh," a blonde girl said.

"It's Justin Bieber!" said the blonde's two friends.

Justin walked toward them and smiled. "Hey ladies. What are you guys up to?"

The two friends gushed and looked up at him like he was God. I rolled my eyes and walked around the shop, keeping my ears open for their conversation.

The blonde was closer to Justin now, and appeared to be flirting with him.

"So, why are you here with _her?"_ I heard her ask.

I was prepared for Justin to agree with her and start denying that he was here with me, when he said something that totally shocked me.

"Because I like her. A lot. And we're on a date. Is that okay with you?"

The girl was taken aback, and gasped. "It was just a question…"

"And that was my answer."

Justin picked up two hats that said Los Angeles on them, brought them to the counter and bought them. Then, he took a sharpie from the front desk and put his signature on them.

"Here you go ladies." He handed them to the blonde's two friends.

They screamed and jumped up and down together, and Justin took a picture with both of them.

"Have a nice vacation girls." He totally ignored the blonde and walked back to me.

The blonde scoffed at him and I laughed. "Nice one Justin."

He smiled and pointed at the sweatshirts in the back corner. "Do you see one you like?"

"I don't know… I wasn't looking at them."

I walked to the back and checked them out, picking out a white one with the words "I Heart LA" on the front.

"This one's cute." I said to him. He nodded and took it out of my hands, and bringing it to the cashier.

"Is this all?" The guy behind the counter asked.

Justin looked down at me. "Is this all?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, this is it." Justin said.

The guy put the sweatshirt in a bag and gave Justin the receipt. "Here you go. Enjoy."

"Thanks," I said, as I followed Justin out.

As soon as we stepped back out onto the sidewalk, Justin made me put it on.

"But it'll mess up my hair…" I began.

He smiled. "So? You'll still look great."

I blushed and pulled it over my head.

Justin grabbed my hand and as we walked, we got closer to dairy queen.

"What type of ice cream are you getting?" I asked him.

"Vanilla. You?"

"A cone of Chocolate."

Just then, I saw someone familiar approaching us.

It was Mike.

Justin tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me closer to him.

Mike stopped in front of me, ignoring Justin. "Hey Shelby. How are you?"

"I'm great. How are you doing?" He looked super hot today.

But instead of a polo and shorts, he was wearing jeans, and a sweatshirt that said UCLA on it.

He must have noticed that I was staring, because he said, "Isn't it rude to stare Shelby?"

I blushed and looked down at my feet. "Sorry."

"Well anyway, I have to get going. Have fun!" He said that last part with sarcasm, and squeezed my shoulder when he passed me.

I was going to look back, but Justin stopped me.

"How come you don't look at me like that Shelby?"

I looked at him. "Look at you like what?"

"Like you're head over heels. You keep telling me how much you like me, but you never act like that around me. I don't get it."

He looked really upset, and I felt bad. "Well, I don't know Justin. I didn't know you needed to look at someone a certain way just because you like them."

"Well, I just wanted to know. It just seems like whenever you see him, you totally forget that I even exist."

I smiled. "Someone's jealous."

"Of course I am Shelby! I've told you so many times that I _really _like you! So why shouldn't I be jealous?!"

I put my hands on his chest. "Justin, if you like me that much, and you can't stand the way I act around Mike, then why don't you just make me your girlfriend?"

He stared at me blankly.

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You wanna be my girlfriend?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'd love to be your girlfriend."

He looked at me in disbelief. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He looked down at his feet for a second, and then grabbed my hands.

"Shelby, will you please be my girlfriend?"

I blushed, and said, "Of course."

He smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen, and hugged me.

"Justin?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"Can we get ice cream now?"

He laughed. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

He grabbed my hand firmly, and we kept walking.

**Sheridan**

Chaz and I ended up watching a romance movie.

He just stared blankly at the screen, emotionless.

However, I felt like I was in the movie, and Chaz was my lover.

I began to daydream and think about Chaz and me dating.

I have to admit, I was feeling a little stupid for thinking about Chaz so inappropriately.

After a while, I decided to talk to Chaz about how I was feeling.

"Hey Chaz…can I talk to you about something?"

He turned down the TV and turned to face me. "Yeah, what is it?"

My face began to burn, and my stomach suddenly felt really sick.

"Um…"

I had no clue how to say how I was beginning to feel about him.

"I was just thinking about…I just wanted to tell you…"

I couldn't say it. It was too embarrassing.

"Sher, what's wrong?"

I blurted it out, and I couldn't stop myself.

After I said it, Chaz just stared at me.

Blankly at first, but then as seconds went by, he backed away from me a bit.

"Sher…Sheridan I don't think we're ready for that yet. I think we should…"

But I didn't hear anything else because I was out the door in a matter of seconds.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

**Sheridan**

I have no clue how long I ran, but my legs were starting to get tired.

I never once looked back. I was too embarrassed.

_Chaz…do you ever think that we should start dating?_

Those words kept playing in my mind, making me run faster.

I had no clue where I was, and it was getting dark.

My legs have never hurt so much in my entire life. I can't even think of a time I ran this long.

My train of thought was interrupted by my body flying head first and smashing onto the ground.

**Minutes Later**

I'm moving.

I have no idea how, or why. But I was moving.

My head was spinning, and my eyelids refused to open, no matter how hard I tried.

"You're gonna be just fine." I heard someone say from underneath me.

My head snapped up to attention, but I still couldn't open my eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice lower than a whisper.

"You'll find out soon enough."

I rested my head back against whoever's shoulder I was on, and stayed silent.

After what seemed like an eternity, we started up some stairs.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking for some answers.

"You'll see." Said the mysterious guy.

I groaned and finally had the strength to open my eyes.

I looked up and saw the guy's face.

He looked to be about a year older than me, and had sparkling hazel eyes.

He was _gorgeous._

"Why are you taking me here?" I asked.

He didn't answer, and he pulled out a key to unlock a huge door.

When we entered the building, my mouth opened wide. I was fully conscious now, and was amazed at what I saw.

The ceiling was like, a million feet high, and everything was white.

It was beautiful here. But whoever owned this place must be seriously rich.

I sat up in the guy's arms, and looked around a little more.

"Who lives here?" I asked.

He chuckled. "You ask a lot of questions."

He placed me on a couch, and sat across from me on a sofa chair.

I looked at him again.

"So, you wanted to know who I am? I'm Charlie. I brought you here because I found you knocked out on a beach a few miles from where people usually go. And I live here."

He flashed an amazingly white smile at me. "So, who are you?"

I looked down at my hands. "I'm Sheridan."

"Pretty name. How come I found you laying on a beach in the dark?"

I looked up at him. "I was running away from an embarrassing situation."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "What was the problem?"

I sighed. "I don't really wanna walk about it."

He nodded. "You can tell me later. But you can crash here tonight. Do you need a phone to call someone?"

I thought about Shelby. "Yeah, I do."

He handed me his cell.

"Thanks."

I dialed Shelby's number and waited.

She picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Shelby. It's Sheridan."

"Hey…why are you calling from this number?"

"Because, I ran away from the hotel to get away from Chaz. It's a long story, but I'm with this guy named Charlie, and he's letting me stay with him tonight. I'll tell you all about it later, I promise."

"Wait, what? You're staying with some random guy?! Sher, tell me what's going on!"

I heard a shuffling noise, and then Justin was on the line.

"Sher, what are you doing? You can't stay with some random guy you don't know! He could hurt you."

"You guys, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Sheridan, you need to go back to the hotel. You can't stay with him."

There was no way I was going back to the hotel tonight.

"Well why the hell not Justin? It's either I stay here, or I'm sleeping outside."

Justin was silent for a moment. "Sher, what happened?"

"I already told you I don't wanna talk about it. But you can feel free to ask Chaz."

I thought about that for a moment. "You know what? Don't even bother asking him. You won't understand."

After that, I hung up the phone and gave it back to Charlie.

"Thanks." I said.

He took it from me. "You know, your friends didn't seem too happy about you staying here."

"Well, I'm not going back to our hotel. I refuse. So, if you kick me out, fine. I'll sleep outside. Doesn't matter to me."

I crossed my arms.

"You know, you look really hot when you're mad."

I looked back at Charlie. "What?"

"I said, you look hot when you're mad, Sheridan."

I raised an eyebrow, and my cheeks burned. "Um, thanks?"

He walked over to where I was sitting and sat down next to me. "So, can you tell me all about this embarrassing situation?"

I sighed. "I don't want to. It's _embarrassing._"

"You can tell me."

It took all of my strength to tell him.

"Well, there're these guys that my friend and I are staying with, and I really like one of them. And the guy I like likes me too. I mean, we've already established this. And then, he tries to go all the way with me, but I told him I wasn't ready. But then later on, I did something stupid."

Charlie waited for me to continue.

I sighed and went on. "I asked him if he ever thinks that we should start dating. And then he told me that he doesn't think so, despite what he wanted to do earlier…"

I stopped there.

"So that's where you started running, I guess?"

I nodded.

"I'll admit, that is pretty embarrassing. But I don't think it's too bad."

I didn't say anything.

"Hey, don't be upset. It's okay. That happens to almost everyone. It's happened to me before too."

That made me feel a little better. "Really?"

He nodded. "Absolutely."

I thought that was weird, since he was so attractive and nice.

My stomach growled, and Charlie stood up.

"Are you hungry? I can make you something."

I realized just how hungry I was, and followed him into his kitchen.

"What do you want? I have lots of soup, hamburgers, hot dogs…"

"I'll take a hamburger please."

He nodded and went out onto his deck, and turned on the grill.

I barely knew the guy, but staying at his place felt more comfortable than staying with Shelby and Justin.

I went onto the deck and sat down on the bench beside Charlie.

"So, just how many girls have told you they didn't want to date you?"

I don't even know why I asked that.

He shrugged. "Oh, about five? Yeah, five."

I was surprised. Chaz was the only guy to say no to me.

"Seriously? Then maybe I shouldn't be upset about what happened to me then."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because, tonight was the first time it happened to me."

"Only your first?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He looked me over. "Well, I don't see why anyone would turn you down. You're beautiful."

My entire body shook with approval. "Really?"

"Definitely."

I smiled, and we continued to talk, all night.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

**Sheridan**

When I woke up, I was laying on a lounge chair outside on the deck.

I looked over beside me, and saw Charlie was still in his chair too.

I guess we were having too much fun to get up last night.

I learned more about Charlie in a few hours than I'd learned about Chaz in a few weeks.

I heard Charlie start to move around, so I sat up.

"Morning beautiful," He said when he saw me.

I smiled and looked down at my hands. "Morning."

A few minutes later, he was leading me to a bathroom.

"Take a shower, and then I'll take you back to where you're supposed to be."

I shook my head. "But I don't wanna go back there."

"You're gonna have to at some point. And plus, I like being with you. I think I should at least let your friends see me."

I thought about it. "I don't think Chaz would like that."

He shrugged. "Well, he didn't seem to like _you_ either."

That hurt, but he was right. "I guess you have a point."

I took my shower and put my hair in a loose ponytail. I had to wear the clothes I had on yesterday.

When I walked out, Charlie was in the living room waiting for me.

"You ready?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Let's get this over with. I know they're gonna be pissed at me. This isn't the first time I've run away."

He raised his eyebrows. "It isn't?"

"Nope. I ran away from something Chaz did before."

He whistled. "Wow. This Chaz guy doesn't seem all that great."

I felt bad for making Chaz look like a horrible person.

Charlie led me to his way-too-nice car, and we drove off.

**Later, at the hotel**

I led Charlie upstairs to our hotel room, and knocked on the door since I left my key behind.

I head footsteps, and immediately stared to turn around.

Charlie pulled me back, and made me face the door again.

"You can't run away from all of your problems." He whispered to me.

A second later the door opened. Shelby was now in front of me.

She jumped on me, without even noticing Charlie.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay Sher? I was so worried…"

Then Justin came out of nowhere. "Where the hell did you go Sheridan?"

"Well hello to you too, Justin." I said, rolling my eyes.

He sighed. "Why did you leave Sher? You scared the hell out of us."

_Then_ they all noticed Charlie standing there.

"Oh, hi." Shelby said, blushing. I could tell she thought he was gorgeous. Justin looked at her and grabbed her hand.

"Are you this "Charlie" person?" Justin asked.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah. Hi."

Justin looked at him harder, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside. "Well, thanks for taking care of her. Bye."

Justin attempted to close the door, but I stopped him.

"No, let him in."

I grabbed Charlie's arm and pulled him inside.

Charlie put his arm around me. "I don't think this is a good idea."

I looked up at him. "Why not?"

He looked somewhere behind me, and I turned around.

Chaz was standing there, obviously pissed off.

I rolled my eyes. "So? Who cares? We'll just go somewhere else."

I pulled myself out of Charlie's grasp and went to go my room.

"Where are you going?" Justin asked.

"I'm changing my clothes."

I made sure I put on something that made me look totally hot, and walked back out.

Charlie was already waiting beside the opened door, and I walked right to him.

"We'll be back eventually." I said, following Charlie out the door.

**Shelby**

Well, that certainly was awkward.

Chaz was just standing in front of the door, staring at it.

Justin was looking down at the ground.

I was actually feeling bad for Chaz, but I still didn't really know what happened between them.

"What did you do _this_ time, Chaz?" Justin asked, still looking down at the ground.

"I didn't do anything. She asked me if I ever think we should start dating, and I said I didn't think we were ready for that."

Justin and I both looked at him. "Why not? Why aren't you ready?" Justin asked.

Chaz crossed his arms. "Because, we're just not."

"I think you're leaving something out." I said to him. "There's no way Sher would run away just because you said you weren't ready to date her."

Chaz sighed. "Okay, maybe I left out a little detail."

Justin and I looked at him. "What?"

It looked like Chaz was debating whether or not he should tell us.

"I tried to have sex with her. Then she said she wasn't ready."

I gasped. "Are you serious? And you told her you weren't ready to date her when you tried to have sex with her?"

He nodded.

"That's really low Chaz." Justin said.

"I realize that _now._" Chaz said.

I sighed. "Guys, what are we gonna do? What is this, the third time this has happened?"

Justin wrapped his arms around me. "_We're_ not gonna do anything. Chaz is."

"She obviously wants nothing to do with me now. I think I should just leave."

He walked into the guys' room and started packing his things.

Justin sighed. "I don't have time for this. What do you wanna do today?"

I looked down at the ground. "Well, I really think we should get to know that Charlie guy, if Sher's gonna be hanging around with him."

Justin thought about it. "Maybe you're right. Does she have her phone with her this time?"

I looked at the place she left it last night when she left, and it wasn't there.

"Yeah, she has it."

"Call her then, and find out where they are."

I dialed her number, and waited.

**Sheridan**

Being with Charlie felt so much better than being with Chaz.

I actually felt like Charlie was only paying attention to me, and not every girl around, like Chaz always did.

After a little while of driving, Charlie parked his car on the side of the road, and he got out of the car and opened the door for me.

"Thanks," I said.

I looked at where we stopped, and we were at the Santa Monica pier.

"Oh my gosh, I've never been here before." I said, smiling.

Charlie wrapped his arm around my waist and led me toward the entrance.

Just then, I got a call. I looked at the caller ID.

It was Shelby.

I sighed and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Sher, Justin and I want to get to know this Charlie guy…so we were wondering if we could come hang out with you guys."

I smiled. Before, something inside me was saying that they wouldn't want to have anything to do with Charlie. But I'm glad they do.

"Okay sure. We're at the Santa Monica pier. We can wait at the entrance for you guys."

Then I thought about Chaz. "Is Chaz coming?"

"Nope. Chaz is going home."

I don't know why, but I felt really bad.

"Oh. Well…could you tell Chaz that I'm sorry for acting the way I did? I wasn't trying to make him go home or anything."

Shelby was silent for a moment. "Yeah, sure. I'll tell him. We'll be there soon."

"Okay."

I hung up and walked with Charlie until we reached a big hill that led down to the pier.

I decided to ask Charlie some questions.

"So Charlie, what grade are you in?"

He looked down at me. "I'm a junior. What grade are you?"

"Sophomore." Great. That was perfect. I've always wanted a guy a year older than me.

"What school do you go to?"

He started messing around with my hair. "Hollywood High. Where do you go?"

"I just moved to Massachusetts, so I'm starting my sophomore year at a school called Amherst High."

He looked surprised and disappointed. "You live all the way in Massachusetts? That's…really far."

"Yeah, it is really far away."

I looked down at my feet. How on earth was I going to be able to leave here if I got connected to Charlie?

We were interrupted when Shelby ran up to us.

"Hey guys!" She said.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

Then I saw Justin trailing behind her with Chaz beside him.

"Oh, you guys brought Chaz too?" I asked, automatically leaning into Charlie.

"Yeah. We dragged him along. He's been sitting in his room this whole time."

I nodded.

Justin walked up to me and smiled. "Hey Sher."

He gave me a hug, and then I looked at Chaz.

"Hey." I said.

Chaz seemed surprised that I even spoke to him.

"Hey." He responded.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Shelby asked, looking around.

I shrugged and looked at Charlie.

"How about we sit on the beach here, and interrogate Charlie?" Justin said, punching Charlie in the arm like they've been friends forever.

I wasn't expecting that.

I smiled. "Okay. Cool. Let's do it."

We all walked down the hill and turned right, trying to get to the beach.

I took off my shoes and put my feet in the sand. It was so warm, and felt good between my toes.

After finding a comfy spot, we all sat down in a circle. Ironically, I ended up in between Chaz and Charlie.

Then we played 20 questions.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

**Sheridan**

"How old are you?"

That was Shelby's first question.

Charlie smiled and looked at her. "Seventeen."

I could tell that even though Justin was trying to be nice to Charlie, he still had his guard up, keeping a protective arm around Shelby.

"How many girlfriends have you had?" Justin asked.

Charlie thought about it. "Um…six?"

Justin whistled. "Wow man. That's quite a few."

I'd only had two real boyfriends.

"How many of those girlfriends were real relationships?" I asked.

"All of them." Charlie responded.

My heart sank a little.

I guess he noticed my sudden silence, so he moved closer to me and put a hand on my thigh.

I felt Chaz stiffen beside me.

"Um…are there any girls that you like now?" Chaz asked.

Everyone, including me, turned to look at him.

"Um, yes." Charlie replied with a _duh_ look on his face.

My cheeks burned as Chaz pulled me away from Charlie.

"Stop touching her like that. She's not yours, to touch." Chaz said to Charlie. He was getting extremely angry.

"Chaz, stop!" I shouted, trying to get out of his grasp.

"So you want to be with _him_ now? I thought you wanted to date _me._" Chaz was looking at me in disbelief.

I shook my head. "That was before you ruined it all. You're ready to have sex but not date me. What kind of sense does _that_ make?" I screamed.

"Guys, calm down!" Shelby said. "Chaz, you're being ridiculous."

He let go of me and I retreated to Charlie's side.

"Sorry." Chaz muttered and sat back down. Justin just looked at him and shook his head.

"Let's continue." Shelby said, after everyone settled back down.

We sat in silence for a minute, and then Justin spoke up.

"On a scale of one to ten, how hot do you think Sheridan is?"

I glared at Justin, and he just smirked at me.

"What the hell Justin?" I half shouted, throwing sand at him.

"Hey! No throwing sand!" He shouted, laughing.

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd give her a twenty." Charlie said.

I looked at him and smiled.

Just then, Charlie's phone started ringing, and he answered.

"Hello? ...Oh yeah, I forgot, sorry. I'll be there in a few minutes."

He hung up his phone and stood. "I have to go. My sister just came home and she needs help with something. I'll see you later Sheridan."

He pulled me up off the ground and hugged me, and then he left.

I was kind of disappointed that Charlie had to leave so quickly. I was just getting to know him.

I glanced over at Chaz and he looked thrilled that Charlie was gone.

I guess Justin saw my disappointment, because he immediately started to cheer me up.

"Hey, how about we go up on the pier and ride some rides guys?"

I looked at Justin, and he was looking at me.

"Okay." I said, getting up.

We all started walking together toward the pier, and Chaz was basically glued to my side.

I pushed him away. "Chaz, can you give me some space?"

He rolled his eyes. "You didn't seem to want any space when _Charlie_ was around."

I scoffed at his emphasis on Charlie's name and started walking next to Justin instead.

Justin smiled at me, and I actually started to feel better.


End file.
